


Blink and You'll Miss It

by Theatresweetheart



Series: Sanders Sides Short Stories [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Anxious Thoughts, Anxious feelings, Human AU, Kissing, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Platonic Lamp/Calm - Freeform, Romantic Prinxiety - Freeform, Roomates AU, Swearing, University AU, romantic logicality - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23044960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theatresweetheart/pseuds/Theatresweetheart
Summary: Roman has been crushing hard on his best friend for ages but not wanting to break up the group or risk Virgil hating him, he suffers in silence. And he's relatively happy with this. Up until Logan has had enough of it.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Sanders Sides Short Stories [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1346818
Comments: 11
Kudos: 178





	Blink and You'll Miss It

It was the little things.

It was the little things that someone would overlook without a second thought when one glanced at another person.

Anyone else wouldn’t care how Virgil’s eyelashes fluttered when he rested his eyes for a moment because he didn’t sleep well that night. They wouldn’t care about the way he tapped his fingers on his thigh when he was relaxed or nodding along to the beat of the music blaring in his over-sized headphones. Or how he would bite his lower lip when he was concentrating or thinking about something abstract. Or the twitch of the corner of his lips when someone said something vaguely amusing, or the way he would cover his mouth if he laughed a little too loudly.

It was the little things that someone wouldn’t notice unless they were absolutely enamored with another person.

And it was noticing these little things that got Roman caught.

He tried not to make it obvious that he was staring and for the most part, he wasn’t.

But there were some times where he just couldn’t help himself.

“You’re staring again, Roman.”

The monotonous—yet slightly amused—voice snapped said daydreamer out of his thoughts and back to the current task at hand. A textbook spread over the dark table of the study room and his notebook, a pencil thoughtlessly in his hand. When he shook himself, his eyes drifted away from the sight in front of him down to the small doodles he had sketched mindlessly while in his daze.

He then felt his cheeks flush slightly.

“I’m not staring,” he mumbled. When Logan snorted quietly off to the side, Roman raised his eyes to the bespectacled student. Upon seeing the teasing grin on the other’s features, his brows pinched forwards in frustration, though the heat of embarrassment was there as well. “I’m serious, I’m not staring.”

“Certainly not,” Logan mused, returning his own attention to the textbooks in front of him, beginning to write more notes to his already excessive list. “Staring would consist of not looking away from a certain subject for more than five minutes—which you _did not do_ , mind you.”

At that, Roman felt more pink painting his cheeks.

He sunk a bit lower into the chair he was sitting in and let his eyes rove the rest of the study room. Virgil and Patton were seated on the couch together, talking about something or other.

God, Roman wished he didn’t have his last final coming up in a few days. He wished that _he_ could be the one talking about nonsense with the short brunette dressed in that over-sized hoodie, telling him dumb jokes that made him break into a stupidly cute smile. To be able to see the way his stupidly handsome eyes lit up and crinkled when his stupidly sweet laugh sounded unabashed and loud.

Even now, dressed in his usual black and purple hoodie, the headphones draped over his shoulders, Virgil looked just as stupidly handsome as ever.

He just looked so at peace. It was one of the few times where he wasn’t stressed about anything and/or everything and he didn’t look overly exhausted.

When Virgil had been going through his own finals…holy _shit_.

He had looked like an honest to God train-wreck. Roman was convinced that Virgil hadn’t slept a wink. He had survived on caffeine and the anxiety of failing his classes if he even rested his eyes a wink.

Roman couldn’t count on one hand how many times he brought Virgil a coffee. And those were just in the daylight hours, who knew what had happened past midnight and on.

But now. Now he looked relaxed and comfortable.

Roman didn’t catch what Patton had said, but it didn’t take long before Virgil’s laugh was the only thing he could hear and suddenly his heart skipped a couple beats.

“This is why it would have been better not to have invited them,” Logan said from beside him as an afterthought, scribbling something else down, “that way you wouldn’t be so distracted and, in turn, wouldn’t be distracting me with your nonsensical romantics.”

“It’s not my fault you’re immune to feelings,” Roman grumbled, “at least pretend that your boyfriend is in the same room as you.”

“Patton knows I care, Roman,” Logan pushed his glasses up with the eraser on the end of his pencil. “I do not have to stare at him every second of every hour for him to know that. You on the other hand seem to be hopeless.”

Oh what did Logan know? He was the one that pretended he didn’t feel anything and then proceeded to attempt to avoid Patton for an entire week upon realizing he cared about him in a way that meant _‘more than a friend.’_

Then again, there was the word _attempted_ to avoid him.

So, he wasn’t one to talk.

“Can you keep your voice down, please?” He said instead. “I don’t want them to hear you.”

“I think what you mean to say is, you don’t want Virgil hearing your lovesick yammering.”

“It is not ‘ _lovesick yammering,’_ thank you,” Roman let the pencil finally fall from his fingers, as he had finished twiddling with it and instead rubbed his hands down his face. “I just—I don’t know, how did you and Pat figure out you liked each other?”

“I attempted to avoid him in the hope that the feelings I had acquired for his presence would go away,” Logan hummed, looking up to the other student currently hiding his face in his arms. “Patton has just always been open about how he felt about being around me and he initiated the relationship. You know that.”

“Yes I know that,” Roman’s voice was mumbled as he hid his face further in the crooks of his arms, bunching a few papers on the desk which then prompted Logan to push his textbooks and his own notebooks away to keep from his own pages getting crumpled. “Yeah, but how did you _tell_ each other?”

Logan rolled his eyes. “You know the answer to that too.”

“I know I do, but come on,” he turned his head enough to see the brown-eyed man looking back at him.

“You _are_ the creative one, wouldn’t you want to do something elaborate to admit your feelings to him?”

Roman huffed.

_Of course_ he wanted to do something elaborate and cute and romantic and make a big gesture, but doing something like that would most likely make Virgil uncomfortable and feel as if he was _forced_ to say yes instead of _wanting_ to say yes genuinely and Roman didn’t want him to be miserable.

What kind of relationship would that be?

“…no.”

“Oh? So you _do_ know that doing something over the top would overwhelm him.”

“Ugh.”

Then, there it was again. That sweet sound of a snort and then laughter coming from just in front of him.

Roman raised his head just enough to catch the sight of Virgil using a hand to cover his mouth, but his shoulders were shaking with amusement and his eyes were squeezed shut, crinkled with mirth. When the golden brown eyes had reopened, they were slightly wet showing just how hard he had been laughing and the tears of laughter shimmered on his eyelashes in the fading sunlight of the evening.

He felt his heart stammer again.

Roman was stupidly enamored with how pretty Virgil was.

“I hate him,” he groaned.

“No you don’t,” Logan chuckled. A sound that they heard more often than ever before, but it was still nothing to take lightly.

He rolled his head to face Logan, but still resting them on his arms. His textbook and notes laying forgotten. “No I don’t.”

It was hard. Having fallen so hard for someone and not being able to say anything. It was hard enough for him being in the same room as Virgil without ending up staring at him. Logan made it seem so _easy_. But he was also right; as much as Roman said he hated the other boy, he really didn’t. Such a strong negative word didn’t communicate the right feelings. 

He could say he _loathed_ Virgil and it would be difficult for anyone to believe him.

The things that a normal person wouldn’t notice were the only details that Roman could focus on and it was driving him insane.

“I have had enough of this,” Logan’s voice snapped Roman from his trance for a third time, the sounds of textbooks slamming shut was his final warning, “you are absolutely pathetic.” Before the other student even had the wits to say something, Logan was speaking up. “Patton, would you care to join me for a walk around campus?”

At the request, both Patton and Virgil turned to face the two sitting at the table. A huge grin alighted Patton’s face and he nodded eagerly, happy to get out of the study room for some fresh air.

Within the next few seconds, Logan had packed his things up and back into his backpack that was pulled over his shoulder comfortably and his fingers interlaced with his boyfriend’s.

Roman knew _exactly_ what Logan was doing and he was going to strangle his roommate for doing it, he swore to God.

It also didn’t take long before Patton was leading Logan outside, happily chatting at him a mile a minute. But Roman didn’t miss the smug look Logan shot back in his direction, clearly saying without vocalizing it _; ‘do something you hopeless romantic moron.’_

The door to the study room closed, leaving the two other students in the silence of each other. It took only a second before Virgil snorted, shaking his head. “They’re disgusting,” he mused, a teasing grin on his stupidly handsome features. “It’s all that cute romance and stuff. Like, a walk around campus? Please. How cliche can you get?”

“Ha, yeah,” Roman laughed halfheartedly, partly hating the fact that he had thought of that before. “Gross.”

Their campus was actually something to behold in the fading hours of the day, especially by the large pond just as one entered the property. There were benches that lined it and long nature walks that would be incredibly romantic. He flexed his hands underneath the table self-consciously.

Though, Roman pretended not to notice the tiny shift in Virgil’s face. The concerned look that he was getting in response to his curt agreement. He pretended that his heart didn’t leap at the fact that Virgil was concerned for _him_. They were friends, friends got concerned about each other, it was just because he was being a good guy. Not because he saw him in that sort of way.

“Hey, something the matter?” He shifted to sit a bit more comfortably on the couch, his arms folded over the back of it so he could see Roman clearly. “You seemed fine a couple minutes ago.”

Roman shook his head, offering a tight smile in return. “I’m peachy keen, don’t worry about me.”

“Worrying is the one thing I do best, Roman,” Virgil snorted, though that bothered look never left his face. Instead, it almost solidified. When he didn’t get a sound in response, he frowned a bit more. “Whatever it is, you know you can tell me, right?”

_Not this. I can’t tell you this. I can tell you anything but this_.

“Seriously, Virge, it’s fine.”

Roman’s attention flickered back down to his notebook, seeing the doodles in the corners and the slightly crumpled pages. His textbook still laid open and the question he had been working on before he had gotten…distracted was still circled and unfinished. Taking his eyes off of Virgil for those few seconds was really his downfall because not a minute later, a hand planted directly onto the textbook Roman was staring blankly at and pulling it away from him.

Virgil closed it without a second thought and it snapped the other’s attention up to him.

“There is something seriously wrong,” he stated bluntly—one of Virgil’s best traits really, how he didn’t beat around the bush. “You’re not being a drama queen or extra or nearly as annoying as usual. What’s wrong?”

Roman could already hear Logan chastising for not saying anything, but as he looked at his friend—as he _really_ looked at Virgil, Roman didn’t see malice. He didn’t see anything that said he was going to use this information against him if he were honest. He saw a genuine look of concern, a soft light flickering behind soft brown eyes as he tried to get any sort of honest answer.

Roman didn’t want to lie to his friend, but was _now_ really the time to confess that he had been secretly in love with his best friend for months? A study room where he was struggling to concentrate? Where it felt as though the windows hadn’t been cracked in a week and where students came to cry over their homework?

Roman bit his lower lip, letting his eyes drift away from Virgil’s and scouring the room as if looking for a way out- an excuse to distract the both of them from this conversation.

Roman startled when there was suddenly warmth encompassing his hand and his eyes were drawn down to them, seeing Virgil’s holding his own.

Immediately he could feel the warmth creeping up his neck and seeping into his cheeks, the pounding in his chest telling him just how much this little action meant to him without the other boy evening knowing it.

“You can tell me anything,” he said, “you know that. Did you kill someone? I’ll help you hide the body, if that’s the case. I’ve watched so many crime documentaries that I can make it look like an accident.”

“I’m sure you could,” Roman laughed, thankful for the little break in the tense atmosphere. “But no, no. Nothing— nothing nearly as entertaining as that.”

Virgil softened a little, tightening his hold for a moment. “Then what could possibly be so bad that you can’t tell me?”

Roman was risking absolutely everything if he came right out about it. He was risking Virgil’s friendship, he was risking breaking the four of them apart because if Virgil didn’t like him back it would ruin everything. He would much rather suffer in silence and keep the four of them together as a squad, then break it up because he was some hopeless romantic loser.

“Promise me you won’t hate me when I tell you,” Roman started off, finally interlacing his fingers back with Virgil’s.

Said boy’s eyes widened in slight surprise at the request. It seemed as if that wasn’t what he had been expecting to hear. “Roman why would I—”

“Just promise me, Virgil. Please.”

Hearing the pleading tone, Virgil sighed and nodded his head. “Alright, I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die and all that dramatic shit.”

The attempt at humour went unnoticed and Roman sobered up rather quickly. “Look, this is going to sound so lame. But I, uh, I… I like you and I have for a long time and it’s just been…difficult being around you all the time and not telling you because you, God, you’re so pretty it’s actually not fair and your laugh is incredible—it’s like bells ringing and the sound of pure Heaven—and you just have these eyes that seem to shimmer whenever you start talking about something you love even if I don’t understand it. And Jesus, the way you can just get so passionate about stuff but only to the point where you’re doing something good to do good, not to be recognized for it and I just— I don’t want to ruin this friendship because I’m some hopeless romantic loser that shoots too high for the stars and—”

While Virgil had been effectively shocked into silence, the way Roman had just kept rambling it was obvious that this was some verbal vomit, yes, but it was also a bunch of anxiety as well. Which Virgil knew how to identify all too well.

“Princey take a breath,” he cut the other off, keeping him from droning on too long. He could see the pink growing redder in his friend’s face and now he was avoiding looking at him. As if he had been caught with his hand stuck directly into the cookie jar and was waiting for immediate rejection and retaliation. “…do you like me in like a _friend_ way or in a– a _gay_ way?”

Roman laughed incredulously, almost unsure if Virgil was teasing to be cruel or if he was genuinely unsure. When he looked up to meet his eyes, Roman could see that Virgil was genuinely unsure. “Yeah,” he chuckled nervously, “in a gay way.”

“Thank God,” Virgil laughed, his nose scrunching as he looked down at the boy sitting in the chair, from his seated spot on the table.

“I’m sorry,” Roman leaned back, bringing Virgil’s entire face back into focus but didn’t let go of his hand. “What?”

“Thank God,” Virgil repeated, leaning down on his knees a bit more. “Heaven knows I wouldn’t have been able to confess to you.”

“ _What?”_

“I’m trying to say I like you too.” Virgil grabbed Roman’s other hand and held them both in his own, meeting his eyes and holding them. “In a gay way, you oblivious idiot. Hell, I’m surprised Patton managed to keep it a secret for so long. I love him, everyone knows that, but he’s got loose lips and any longer and the entire school probably would have known.”

Roman swallowed, trying to digest what he had just been told. How the boy of his dreams with the pretty brown eyes and blindingly bright smile was actually looking back at him, telling him that he felt the same way.

“You mean it?” His voice came out softer, unsure and quiet.

“’Course I do,” Virgil told him, reassurance in his tone. “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t. I can be an ass, yeah, but not when it comes to shit like this.” He squeezed Roman’s hands and ducked into the other’s sight line once more. “So? What do you say? I’m no good at all this relationship stuff, but I’m willing to give it a shot if you are.”

“Well of course!”

Roman didn’t mean for it to come out as loudly or as excited as it did, but he felt an explosion of warmth in his chest and suddenly, everything was okay. His last final was a distant thought as he shot forward and met Virgil in an energized and surprisingly confident kiss. The other’s lips were just as soft as he had thought they had been and he could feel the other leaning into it as well after getting over his initial surprise.

And the kiss was soft and warm and Roman could feel those fireworks in his chest—the kind that one read about in fairy tales, the kind of fireworks he had always _dreamed_ of having.

Almost as soon as Roman had realized what had happened, he jolted back as if he had been burned. “Shit, I shouldn’t have.. sorry, Virgil I should have–”

“Oh shut up and kiss me again.”

Well, Roman was never one to disappoint.

Especially not when the front of his shirt was being grabbed and he was being pulled right back in.

Yes, Roman was still going to strangle Logan, knowing that he did all of this on purpose, but right now such a thing could wait. 

He had more important matters on his hands.


End file.
